How to Work with your Free Twilio Trial Account

So you want to give Twilio a spin, or you’ve already signed up for your trial account and want to understand what you can and can’t do? You’re in the right place!

Sign up for your free Twilio trial

1. First, sign up for your free Twilio trial account. The signup process includes verifying your personal phone number: this is a security measure that is mandatory before you can try Twilio.
2. Once you finish signup, you should see your Console Dashboard. This is your home for finding your Twilio credentials, checking your usage, procuring a phone number and more.
3. We give you a small preloaded balance to test out Twilio’s functionality. You will not be charged for Twilio phone numbers or usage until you upgrade.

Verify your personal phone number

When you signed up for your trial account, you verified your personal phone number. You can see your list of verified phone numbers on the Verified Caller IDs page.

You must verify any non-Twilio phone numbers you wish to send SMS messages or MMS messages, or place phone calls to while in trial mode. Additionally, you must verify any non-Twiio phone numbers you wish to receive inbound calls from while in trial mode. These are extra security measures for trial accounts that we remove once you upgrade your account. You may verify as many phone numbers as you like.

To make other non-Twilio phone numbers available to you in trial mode:

1. Click the Phone Numbers dropdown on the side navigation menu:

   

2. Click Verified caller IDs under the Manage dropdown. Once on the Verified caller IDs page, click the Add a new Caller ID button to add a new number:

   

3. Enter the desired phone number to verify, select the desired verification method, and then click Verify Number:

   

   
   Note You will need access to this device to receive the call or text with your verification code.
4. Enter the verification code. You’re now ready to text or call this number with your trial Twilio account.

   

Get your first Twilio phone number

You will need a Twilio phone number — a phone number purchased through Twilio — to send messages or make phone calls using Twilio.

After signing up for your trial account, navigate to the Phone Numbers page in your console.

Click Buy a Number to purchase your first Twilio number.

On the "Buy a Number" page you'll see a list of all available numbers as well as their capabilities (Voice, SMS, MMS, and Fax). You can customize the country and area code, as well as select any of the capabilities you'd like this number to have.

To filter for Toll-Free numbers click Show Advanced Search.

Please note: filtering for a Toll-Free number is only required if you want to message recipients in the United States while in trial.

Enter the criteria for the phone number you need, and then click Search.

• Country: Select the desired country from the drop-down menu.
• Number: Enter any desired prefix and number strings to start the phone number.
• Capabilities: Select your service needs for this number.
• Type: Select only Toll-Free if you are trying to reach customers in the United States while in trial.
• Address Requirement: Select the desired address requirement options.

When you find a number that meets your needs click Buy to review the number.

If you choose to upgrade your project, your trial number will be carried over and charged monthly according to current Voice/SMS rates.

How to release a Twilio phone number

We only allow one Twilio phone number per trial project. If you select a number or choose your own and decide that you’d like a different phone number, you must first release your current number, then pick a new number from the Buy a Number page.

To release your current Twilio phone number:

1. Go to the Manage Numbers page.
2. Click on the number you would like to release.
3. Click on the link at the bottom of the screen that reads Release this Number:

   

4. Once you’ve clicked the link, the number will be released, and you can get a new Twilio Phone number from the Buy a Number page.

Trial Account restrictions and limitations

The processes for sending messages, making phone calls, and setting up an Elastic SIP Trunk are the same for a trial account as a full paid account. However, there are some restrictions and limitations imposed while you are in trial mode.

Making phone calls

• Calls to and from your free trial phone number will play a short trial message before your TwiML runs. Within that message, we ask you to press any key to proceed with the call itself. Only after pressing a key will the code from your website will be requested. If you don’t press a key, the call will not connect to your code.
• Calls are limited to 10 minutes while in trial mode.
• Any non-Twilio phone numbers you want to place calls to must be verified first, or the call will fail. Additionally, any non-Twilio phone numbers you want to receive inbound calls from must be verified first, or the call will fail. These are security measures required for all trial accounts.
• You can use either your Twilio number or a verified caller ID as your From number. You can add a verified outbound caller ID via the console. You may verify as many phone numbers to be used as your caller ID as you like.
• You may make international calls from your trial account. However, you only have access to GA and Public Beta phone numbers. Check out the limited list of countries you can make calls to while in trial mode.

Sending SMS and MMS messages

You cannot send SMS messages from your personal phone number with Twilio, whether on a paid or a trial plan. You can always send messages from Twilio numbers.

• When you send an SMS from your free trial phone number, it will always begin with “Sent from a Twilio trial account.” We remove this message after you upgrade.
• While in trial mode, you can only send messages to non-Twilio phone numbers you’ve verified with Twilio.
• While in trial mode, you cannot send messages using an alphanumeric sender ID

Sending messages internationally

You can send international messages from your trial project as long as you:

1. Ensure your trial number is SMS-enabled and not restricted to sending/receiving messages and calls from local numbers. You can see your phone number’s capabilities on the Phone Numbers page in the Console:

   

   This number is restricted to domestic calls and messages and has Voice, SMS, and MMS capabilities.
2. Review your SMS Geo Permissions to make sure the target country you’re sending messages to is enabled.
3. Remember, you can only send messages to verified phone numbers when you’re in trial mode. Make sure you verify the international phone number you’re sending to in the Console.

Elastic SIP Trunking

How to upgrade your account

If your Twilio needs expand, or you need to accomplish something that isn’t available to your trial account, you’ll need to upgrade your trial account to a full paid account. All you need to do to upgrade is provide payment information — your credit card details or Paypal account — on the billing page. You can have Twilio automatically charge you when your balance falls below a certain threshold that you set, or you can buy Twilio credits with individual payments.